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Berezkin/Duvakin Catalogue of Motifs
English translation, enhancements and additional metadata by Jonathan Fielder-White
Source: Berezkin and Duvakin's Analytical Catalogue · Original catalogue (Russian)
About the catalogue and its sources
Unless otherwise stated, narrative and tradition data comes from Berezkin and Duvakin's Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area (Analytical catalogue).
Original Berezkin/Duvakin catalogue (Russian)
The English translation uses AI assistance alongside manual verification. Errors may occur; consult the original source when in doubt.
J - Avenger heroes
| Ref ▲ | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J41c In J41 family | Trials before meeting the antagonist. | The character goes to fight a dangerous enemy. Along the way, he is given tasks to complete. This is a sign that he will defeat his enemy. Usually, the same tasks were previously given to another character who was unable to complete them and was defeated by the enemy. | 23 | 25 |
| J41d In J41 family | Throwing a stick, he exposes his forehead. | The strongman orders an iron club (sword, etc.) of monstrous size to be made, but breaks it and demands a new one, even heavier (often throwing it into the air and exposing his forehead, etc. – the club breaks). | 17 | 24 |
| J42 | Parting waters. | The character creates a dry passage across the bottom of the water body, and after passing through, the waters close again. | 117 | 170 |
| J43 | Bait for enemies. | To destroy his antagonists, the hero creates edible bait for them, usually a fruit tree on the other side of the river. | 2 | 4 |
| J44 | The collapsed bridge. | The hero lures the enemy onto a rickety bridge. The enemy falls into the water, into the abyss (see motif J46). See motif J52. | 108 | 164 |
| J45 | The leg serves as a bridge, R246. | The character extends his leg (dafla: arm; upper tanana: tail) or neck as a bridge across a water barrier. Usually, those being pursued or walking ahead cross such a bridge to the other side, while the pursuer or those walking behind fall into the water because the character removes his bridge. See motif J44. | 67 | 85 |
| J46 | The enemy drowns. | Antagonists perish by falling into water or attempting to cross a water barrier. See motifs J42, J44. | 184 | 226 |
| J47 | The pursuer falls from a height. | A character climbs up to the sky using a rope, ladder, etc., or climbs a tree or rock, or descends from the sky to the ground, or rises to the ground from the underworld. Another character climbs after them, but the rope or ladder breaks or is cut, and the character falls. | 96 | 168 |
| J47a In J47 family | Bob to the sky, ATU 328A, 804A. | A plant (usually not a mighty tree, but a legume) grows unusually fast, and a character climbs it to reach the sky. | 34 | 65 |
| J47a1 In J47 family | Goats – owners of food. | The character enters a house where goats live. He secretly eats the food he finds there, but is eventually discovered. | 7 | 8 |
| J47b In J47 family | Two ropes. | When a character runs away from a pursuer, a strong rope (chain, etc.) is lowered (thrown) to him. A rotten rope is lowered to the pursuer, it breaks, and the pursuer crashes (drowns). | 13 | 27 |
| J48 | The parrot cuts the rope. | A character climbs up to the sky or descends from the sky to the ground on a rope. A parrot cuts the rope, and the character falls. | 10 | 25 |
| J49 | The Moon's wife falls down. | The wife and/or sister of the Moon unsuccessfully tries to climb up to him in the sky or reaches him but returns to earth. | 10 | 14 |
| J50 | Attempt to resurrect the dead. | The father or mother of twin heroes dies or is killed. An attempt to revive the deceased fails. | 36 | 40 |
| J50a In J50 family | Sons embrace their mother. | The mother dies when her sons push or embrace her. | 7 | 9 |
| J50b In J50 family | The father remains half-dead. | The father (alone or with his brother) is only partially resurrected and is unable to live among people (he cannot be a warrior). The hero leaves him (in another world) or allows him to die completely. | 10 | 8 |
| J51 | A piece is missing, E33. | The character is dismembered or eaten; he is revived from his remains, but since one of his bones was broken, swallowed or carried away (or a drop of blood or a piece of flesh was lost), the revival fails, or the character remains defective in some way. | 71 | 120 |
| J51a In J51 family | Ladder made of bones. | To climb a rock or tower, one must stick bones into it and climb them like a ladder. | 13 | 33 |
| J51a1 In J51 family | The helper girl: dismembered and reassembled. | To retrieve an object from a hard-to-reach place, the girl orders it to be dismembered (or just have its fingers cut off) and then reassembled, after which it comes back to life. | 15 | 45 |
| J51a2 In J51 family | A severed finger instead of a chicken bone. | A girl must penetrate an inaccessible place with the help of chicken bones. She loses one or there are not enough bones. By cutting off her finger and using it as she would use the bones, the girl achieves her goal. | 5 | 7 |
| J51b In J51 family | A piece is missing: the reborn moon. | The moon has been eaten or has died and its body has decomposed. It is revived, but a small part (the bone) is missing. This determines the characteristics of the moon or the characteristics of human anatomy. | 4 | 5 |
| J52 | Children kill children in revenge for their parents. | A character (usually zoomorphic and female) treacherously kills another. The victim's children take revenge by killing the murderer's children. | 49 | 90 |
| J52a In J52 family | Antagonist – female bear. | A she-bear or bear treacherously kills his companion, neighbour, etc., who is associated with a herbivorous animal or a weaker predator. The victim's children take revenge by killing the murderer's children or flee. See motifs J52, J54. | 36 | 19 |
| J52b In J52 family | Heroes – female hares or baby hares. | A girl, young woman or children associated with hares (rabbits) are heroes-victors or successful tricksters. | 26 | 50 |
| J53 | Fawns and bear cubs | The children of a character associated with a hoofed animal (deer, antelope) come into conflict with an enemy associated with a predator or a larger hoofed animal. They kill his children and/or run away from him. See motif J52. | 28 | 20 |
| J53a In J53 family | Inviting to play, kills. | A character invites another to play. The latter follows the rules, but the initiator of the game does not and kills the other. | 18 | 27 |
| J53a1 In J53 family | Method of revenge: lure into smoke and fire. | The children of the murdered man kill the murderer's children, luring them to a place where they perish from heat or smoke. | 24 | 42 |
| J53b In J53 family | The breasts of a murdered mother. | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her, brings her meat home and starts cooking it. The children of the deceased notice their mother's breasts (in California – eyes or liver), or the mother's breasts themselves turn to her children. | 17 | 24 |
| J53c In J53 family | One friend kills another. | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her and (later) eats her. The children of the murdered woman escape. See motif J52. | 26 | 45 |
| J53c1 In J53 family | Grizzly bear and black bear. | Two women live together, both have children. One of them kills and (then) eats the other. The killer is associated with a grizzly bear, and the victim with a smaller species of bear. | 11 | 17 |
| J54 | The last female escapes. | The heroes of the narrative exterminate animals or demons of a certain species. This species could have disappeared altogether if one or more individuals (often a pregnant female) had not been saved. {This motif does not include aetiological endings, according to which the current creatures of a certain species originate from a dismembered original creature}. | 53 | 69 |
| J54a In J54 family | The Calf and the Tiger Cub, ATU 131. | Two women, both or one of whom are animal characters, live together and have children. One of them kills and eats the other or is about to do so. The son of the murderer kills his mother for this, remains the sworn brother of the son of the murdered woman, or the children of the murderer and the victim run away together. Cf. motif J54B. | 18 | 24 |
| J54b In J54 family | Mother's enemy and brother's ally. | The antagonist's son and the hero are half-brothers or full brothers (uncle and nephew; sworn brothers). When the antagonist tries to destroy the hero, the antagonist's son takes the hero's side. | 26 | 23 |
| J55 | The unrecognised hero encounters enemies. | The hero encounters characters who, not recognising him, say that they are waiting for so-and-so (naming him) to kill him. He easily kills them or turns them into animals. | 43 | 56 |
| J56 | The trial of the sons. | A son or sons come to their father. He subjects them to trials in order to find out whether they are really his children. | 24 | 49 |
| J56a In J56 family | Transformation into frying pans. | Heroic brothers are transformed into pots or frying pans, but only the elder is able to sit in the fire long enough. | 3 | 5 |
| J57 | Son of the Sun. | Conceived by the Sun, a woman gives birth to sons or a son; when they come of age, they visit their father. See motif J56. | 32 | 48 |
| J58 | Chain of arrows, F53. | Characters shoot arrows (darts) that stick into each other and form a chain. They usually climb up the chain to the upper world. | 79 | 165 |
| J58a In J58 family | Three wizards by the river. | To cross the river, each of the three men uses his own magical method. | 8 | 7 |
| J58b In J58 family | Door to the sky. | With the help of a chain of arrows, the sky or the sun is pulled down or pushed up, or a hole is made in the sky. | 4 | 4 |
| J58c In J58 family | Bridge of arrows. | A chain of arrows forms a bridge across a water barrier. | 10 | 10 |
| J59 | Following the arrow to the sky. | To reach the sky, one must shoot an arrow that will pierce the vault of heaven. See motif J58; see motif J59A: a man flies after or on an arrow (without the motif of an arrow piercing the vault of heaven). | 83 | 29 |
| J59a In J59 family | Flight after the arrow, D1092, D1526.1. | After shooting an arrow (rarely: throwing a ball), a person flies on it, behind it or in front of it, or sends another person on the flying arrow. Cf. motif J59. | 42 | 40 |
| J59b In J59 family | The arrow falls, the dead person comes back to life. | To revive the dead, the character shoots an arrow into the sky or throws an object. It is assumed that the dead, fearing the falling object, will come back to life and run away. | 11 | 15 |
| J59c In J59 family | Reviving the dead with a whip. | A character strikes the remains of the deceased with a whip or a lash, and the deceased comes back to life. | 7 | 8 |
| J59d In J59 family | Reviving the dead by stepping over their bones. | The character steps or jumps over the remains of the slain, and the latter comes back to life. | 5 | 6 |
| J60 | Sons of two fathers. | A woman conceives twins from two different fathers. | 17 | 23 |
| J61 | Descends on a feather. | The character has the ability to move or hover in the air like a feather or a fluff. | 26 | 29 |
| J62 | Petrified people. | The character turns those who come to him into inanimate objects (usually stones). (In variants of the ATU 303 plot, the motif is often absent; original texts are needed). | 102 | 187 |
| J62a In J62 family | Turned into trees. | The character turns those who come to him into plants (trees, flowers). The hero (heroine) remains alive and breaks the spell on those who have been transformed. | 17 | 13 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.